Battle of the Baddest: Giant Sculptures

The brief

The two baddest men on the planet, Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou, kicked off Riyadh Season 2023 by squaring off against each other in the ultimate boxing match – the Battle of the Baddest. To help drive global awareness, physical attendance and online streaming of the match, we were tasked with creating a number of tent-pole activations to celebrate the epic showdown – including a super-size experiential activation in central London.

With the Battle of the Baddest being such a high profile sporting event between two huge opponents, we knew we had to create an experience that was larger-than-life to land the enormity of this bout. So we crafted two towering replicas of Fury and Ngannou and their corresponding thrones, along with a boxing ring stage, as an experiential photo opportunity for fans.

As giants amongst men, we decided to recreate Fury and Ngannou as classic statues with a modern twist, going for a stone finish with gold details and crowns. To make the replicas as realistic as possible, we got the fighters in the studio for 3D scanning using photogrammetry to capture every aspect. We then 3D printed these scans at 150% scale using wet laser printing for super-size – but incredibly likelike – results.

Set against a backdrop of Tower Bridge at Potters Fields in London, the giant sculptures were perfectly placed to command attention. A QR code integrated into the activation encouraged visitors to visit our Battle of the Baddest microsite to view more event information, interact with the boxers in AR and find out how to watch the fight.

The results

Tens of thousands of Londoners came face to face with the super-size sculptures as they passed through Potters Fields in the lead up to the Battle of the Baddest. The pop-up activation successfully got people talking ahead of the fight just as intended, with a flurry of national press interest helping to boost public intrigue amongst those outside of London.